I had been to YMCA West Side in New York once ten years ago, before they renovated it, and I enjoyed it much. Thus last summer I went back there with my girlfriend without even having a look at the rooms. I wish I did not go there! Definitely I will not go there any more.
I am 32 and since ... Read review
The 1 star Harlem YMCA Hostel is located in Americas largest African American community ... more
and attracts visitors and residents from all walks of life in this great setting in New York City. Conveniently located just 40 metres from the nearest subway station, you can enjoy the sites of Manhattan without the fuss of long walks to public transport. You can easily be in downtown Manhattan in around 20
The Vanderbilt YMCA is situated on Manhattan's fashionable East Side in New York City. The ... more
area is alive with excitement in the heart of midtown, close to the United Nations, Rockefeller Center and Grand Central Terminal and some of the most exciting shopping streets in the world; Madison , Fifth & Park Avenues. Within walking distance of plenty of other sites including the United Nations, New
The West Side YMCA Hostel is located just off Central Park West and steps from the famous ... more
Lincoln Center in Manhattan, New York City. This location allows guests to enjoy the beauty of Central Park, the energy of Times Square and world-famous cultural institutions including Carnegie Hall, the Juilliard School of Music, the Museum of Natural History and the Museum of Modern Art just to name a few.
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Advantages: excellent location, it is really downtown NYC Disadvantages: expensive, dirty rooms and unbelieably dirty decaying bathrooms
I had been to YMCA West Side in New York once ten years ago, before they renovated it, and I enjoyed it much. Thus last summer I went back there with my girlfriend without even having a look at the rooms. I wish I did not go there! Definitely I will not go there any more.
I am 32 and since I travel quite a lot I can say I have some spirit of adaptability. However there's a limit to everything.
The place where this hotel ... ...Columbus Square in the middle of downtown New York. Unfortunately this is the only positive thing about YMCA West Side.
PRICE: price is too high for what you get. 100$ for a twin bedroom is a bargain for the are you are going to stay, but it is a theft for what you are provided for. What's more YMCA demands you to pay in advance for the whole period you are going to stay. In fact I had reserved it for 5 days and had to stay there all ... more
I had been to YMCA West Side in New York once ten years ago, before they renovated it, and I enjoyed it much. Thus last summer I went back there with my girlfriend without even having a look at the rooms. I wish I did not go there! Definitely I will not go there any more.
I am 32 and since I travel quite a lot I can say I have some spirit of adaptability. However there's a limit to everything.
The place where this hotel is locate is very good, one minute on foot from Columbus Square in the middle of downtown New York. Unfortunately this is the only positive thing about YMCA West Side.
PRICE: price is too high for what you get. 100$ for a twin bedroom is a bargain for the are you are going to stay, but it is a theft for what you are provided for. What's more YMCA demands you to pay in advance for the whole period you are going to stay. In fact I had reserved it for 5 days and had to stay there all those days, despite the problems, not to lose my money.
ROOM: here at YMCA West Side two kind of rooms are available, the cheap ones (~100$ for a twin bedroom) have bunk beds. The room is cleaned in a very approximative way, there is carpet on the floor, which probably has never been washed. The bunk beds do not even have a stair in order to get to the upper one: you actually have to "climb" to get on it. It may sound stupid, but the least thing you would ever want after being around all day is to climb to get on and jump to get off the bed. There is a TV, however only one tv station can be clearly seen. There is also an air conditioning device, though it is very old and makes a lot of noise. It makes a very annoying noise also when it is turned off and it is raining, due to the water drops that drop on the metallic case.
BATHROOM: the worst I have ever seen in NY. Only one bathroom per sex per storey with 3 showers, 4 basins and 4 WC, all this for over 46 twin bedrooms totaling around 96 people!! It was terribly dirty with an urine smell hard to stand. It does not have any window and the air device does not work leaving th smell all inside. It is cleaned only once a day. Basins are very small and provide you with very hot water (when I washed my face I could not stand it on my eyes). Furthermore water was timed to a maximum of 15 seconds each time, not enough even to full my hands to wash my face! The day after I checked in water had been over for 12 hours from 9 pm to 9 am, exactly the time people usually stay in the hotel. In fact next morning WC were all clogged up! Only 2 had been unclogged in the evening and the remaining 2 were still clogged up when I left, 3 days later. (Imagine 46 rooms with only 2 WCs...)
SECURITY: The entrance is guarded 24/7. The room key is an electronic key. This in fact prevents you from being able to lock your room twice. I personally found that device less secure than standard keys. Ladies bathroom had a code, however that code was the same for all the storey and it differed by only one cypher (which represented the storey number) from one storey and the other. A secret code indeed! Being all this not enough, one morning at 06 o'clock we had been waken up by the fire alarm! I do not know why since we later realized there had been no fire. However all the hotel guests were panicking not understanding what was going on. The alarm kept going on for one hour, intermittently. At a certain point a guy spoked in a megaphone reassuring it was "just" a test. However, speaking in slang and with the siren's noise, it took us a few moments to understand what he was actually saying and that just increased panic. Well, looking on the bright side at least the fire alarm works, at least when there is no fire...
SERVICE AND FACILITIES: the personnel was unpleasant and with a couldn't-care-less attitude. Even though the hotel had a laundry, it did not have even a basin where one could rinse its clothes. (The bathroom basins were useless since they are timed to 15 seconds). The hotel also has a computer room, however it costs you around 10$ per hour! Note that in YMCA Jamaica NY each guest was granted 2 hours free of charge each day. Of course YMCA has lots of fitness facilities, however I think a tourist does not care less for them. After being around all day the least thing you would ever do is to do fitness exercises. Luggage deposit was not free at all, it cost 2$ per bag.
Not all YMCA are like this (we had been also to YMCA Jamaica NY which wasn't that bad with a much higher value for money), however it is clear that in YMCA West Side guests are treated like animal stocks to be spoiled. In that hostel I could feel the extreme consequences of extreme capitalism, where thanks to an always high demand the price can be very high and the expenses in services can stay very low. All this makes me think since YMCA originally meant Youth Male Christian Association...
Advantages: Fantastic Location Disadvantages: Not great quality rooms and washing facilities
If you appreciate the "well, it's a roof over your head" style accommodation then I promise you will love the YMCA Westside, NYC. I was lucky enough to spend 5 days in New York last year as part of my college course so the accommodation was out of my hands. Fortunately I prefer to prioritise location to accommodation. As far as youth hostels go, the YMCA west side has everything and more. Literally 1 minute to the end of the road, cross the street ... ...middle of one of the most famous concrete jungles, central park is a particularly stunning view. Maybe it's the contrast of the tall trees and quiet pathways to the colossal skyscrapers and rowdy streets that heighten the beauty situated so close to the YMCA. Within walking distance there is the famous ice rink (from Home Alone 2), which is well worth a go on even if you can't skate, the views alone are unforgettable. You will also find it easy to ...
sunshine_supergirl 08.05.2007 (14.06.2008)
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of YMCA, New York
The West Side YMCA is a huge building situated on West 63rd St., in a fairly quiet, but safe area, just across from the Lincoln Center. It's a convenient location, just a couple of mins walk from Central Park, and an easy bus ride to downtown. We stayed for 3 nights in a private room, which has 2 beds (bunk) with cable TV and aircon, and access to the shared bathrooms on each floor (separate sex). That was 84 dollars a night, which by NY standards ... ...private bath for about 30 bucks more, but if you're on a budget, as you obviously will be if you're staying here, then you probably won't bother.
Overall, it was fine. The room was, as expected, basic, but clean. The bathrooms were pretty big, with 10 or so showers and and equal number of sinks, and while they're definitely of the school changing room variety (individual cubicles, mind) they do the job. My only gripe was a pretty unfriendly welcome, ...
JohnB 09.08.2000
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of YMCA, New York
Advantages: Close to Central Park Disadvantages: Too many to list
I went to America in mid-Ferbruary with my school band. We spent the last 3 days, 2 nights in New York City and spent our nights at the West Side YMCA. When we pulled up outside we were quite wary of the place but inside the reception was beautiful... what a false impression that was!
We were all staying on the 15th floor, girls on one side, boys on the other and teachers in the middle. When we stepped out of the lift we were shocked. It looked ... ...with a small grate in the top, there was a dreadful smell, very stale. (apparently there were wooden doors on some of the lower floors). The rooms were tiny, just enough room for a bunkbed, a tv (which we were most grateful of) and a small desk. There was barely enough floorspace for 2 people's suitcases! My room seemed clean enough but one of our party found a live cockroach in theirs.
There was a shared toilet/shower room.. one female one male. ...
Eri 17.03.2001
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of YMCA, New York
Advantages: Cheap, Central Location, Nice Food Disadvantages: Some rooms are poor, lifts sometimes take a while to get to you.
I spent three nights at the West side YMCA. The first was spent in a twin room on the 10th floor. It was just big enough for a bunk, table, TV and a lamp. It was air conditioned, although it was noisy, and had a great view (only some rooms have this) There were bathrooms on each floor - one set male one set female. The girls had a combination lock on the door, but everyone knew the code. The boys door wouldn't shut properly. There were 3 toilets, ... ...three showers - you could only use two of them, which screeched "like the exorcist". The curtains left an inch at either side, and there was a big mirror opposite you, above the sinks - very communal. We then kicked up BIG FUSS...(we were a school group)
Then...we got Rooms on floors 12 and 13(top two floors) that had been rennovated...
I was in a room of 6 with the other guys on the trip, but it was a nice room - TV, desk, shelves, Air con, bunk ...
danbutcher 06.03.2004
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of YMCA, New York
Advantages: Lowest priced Disadvantages: Not for the posh
I had always dreamed of going to NYC ever since I was a child. NYC was the only place I ever wanted to go in the world but of course it is highly expensive to get there from the UK. I had to save for months and months just to be able to have enough spending money but I got there in the end (and by the way came home with no money). The best deal I got on accommodation was at the Vanderbilt YMCA right in the middle of NYC. It was nothing like the YMCA's ... ...class hotel. It had its own restaurant and security guards and yeah OK it was not the Ritz but I was paying hardly anything for my stay. It was cheap and cheerful but really really safe too. I advise any student or people low on income to go to the Vanderbilt and the staff are really friendly there and are all willing to help. ...
BuffyWallace 31.08.2000
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of YMCA, New York
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Advantages: cheap and cheerful Disadvantages: small rooms
I have stayed at this place twice and I thoroughly recommend it to anyone looking for an inexpensive place to stay in NewYork- and let's face it there's not many.
I booked this first through STA travel who messed it up- so do it independently.
The cheapest rooms are small and have bunkbeds, tv, air conditioning and shared bathrooms but there are also suites available. The staff are friendly and there are lots of on site facilities such as a gym, swimming pool and a cateteria with decent food. The rooms are cleaned everyday and the place is very well kept. There are always people around to give directions and recommendations and you can book trips to places such as Washington, Boston and Niagara Falls.
The best thing about the YMCA Vanderbilt is the location. At East 47th street between second and third avenue it is in a fairly quiet ...
Advantages: Location, freindly helpful staff Disadvantages: bit tired/dated
We are just back from 4 nights in The Wellington Hotel. We booked it back in Jan'07 thru an online hotel booking site (I may have mentioned it in other reviews) We also booked flights directly with BA thru their website.
We had stayed in NewYork about 2 years ago in a YMCA in the upper westside. However as my oldies were coming with us we had to book a hotel.
We booked a suite at The Wellington for around £780 for 4 adults for 4 nights and the BA flights from ABZ cost around £1,200 for the 4 of us.
We arrived at JFK around 1600hrs and after clearing immigration and a lenghty taxi journey we arrived at the hotel about 1800hrs.
The hotel looked impressive from outside, the lights of Times Square were visable from the front door. The reception area is very nice, a huge chandalier greets you. The reception desk is small and quite ...
